Family Resources

Learn about choosing quality early care and education

Choosing who cares for your child is one of the most important decisions a parent can make. BrightStars was developed to help you select the best care for your child.

About Us

Tiered Quality Rating & Improvement System

BrightStars assists families in finding quality early care, education and afterschool programs. Families looking for care may search online or call 401-739-6100 ext. 302. BrightStars also evaluates the quality of early care, education and afterschool programs and rates them from one (1) to five (5) stars and then helps them improve and expand their quality.

By becoming BrightStars-rated, early care, education, and afterschool programs show that they are committed to quality. BrightStars ratings are based on research-based standards that support development and learning.

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Our Standards

BrightStars rates early care and education programs in the following standards:

  • Health, Safety and Nutrition
  • Enrollment and Staffing
  • Staff Qualifications and Ongoing Professional Development
  • Administration
  • Early Learning and Development
  • Family Engagement
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BrightStars rates School-Age Care programs (K-5) in the following standards

  • Childs’s Daily Experience
  • Teaching and Learning
  • Staff-Child Ratio and Group Size
  • Family Communication and Involvement
  • Staff Qualifications
  • Program Management
BrightStars Steps
Programs are assigned a BrightStars star rating equal to their lowest level achieved across all BrightStars standards. The base is the minimum standards an early care, education and after school program must meet to operate and the ladder represents steps programs can achieve to meet higher levels of quality.

Our Ratings

What the Star Ratings Mean

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5 Star Rating

Compliant in all critical areas of state licensing requirements and far exceeds higher quality standards

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4 Star Rating

Compliant in all critical areas of state licensing requirements and exceeds higher quality standards

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3 Star Rating

Compliant in all critical areas of state licensing requirements and meets higher quality standards

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2 Star Rating

Compliant in all critical areas of state licensing requirements and is approaching quality standards

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1 Star Rating

Meets minimum standards to operate and is committed to quality improvement